Find ways to allow unlicensed hawkers to trade — Senator
The local authorities need to find the best solution for unlicensed traders who are not allowed to conduct their businesses in hawker areas around Taman Tunku here.
Senator Alan Ling said this when visiting the hawker site at Taman Tunku on Wednesday, which has not been allowed to operate.
Taking in view the pandemic situation, Ling said a way should be found to help the traders, who are in the low-income group, to enable them to sell vegetables, food, drinks and others as a source of income.
“The local authorities should devise a short-term method such as issuing daily licences and providing suitable temporary sites for now so that their source of income is not affected,” suggested Ling.
Instead of taking drastic enforcement, he said the local authorities should act more humanely and devise methods that benefit all parties, including shop owners and residents who may have complained about the presence of many illegal hawkers who cause environmental hygiene and public health problems.
Ling said there was no denying that the interests of all parties in the community should be taken
into account and defended, but it would benefit all parties and reduce problems such as environmental pollution if these hawkers could be organised properly.
“In the long run, local authorities should always be sensitive to local and community needs by providing hawker complexes that have complete infrastructure facilities in a residential area due to the
increase in the surrounding population,” he said.
“In this case, I call for negotiations by the local authorities with hawker representatives in the near future to find the best solution,” he added.
Also present during the visit were Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) Youth chief Peter Hee and DAP Piasau vice chairman Tan Huong Ing.